WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today awarded nearly $5 million to six communities to help create plans to redevelop severely distressed HUD assisted housing and revitalize neighborhoods. Funded through HUD's Choice Neighborhoods Initiative, these grants will help local leaders to craft comprehensive, homegrown plans to revitalize and transform these neighborhoods.

Choice Neighborhoods is HUD's signature place-based initiative and its vision builds on the work that has been done by the Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative, an interagency partnership between HUD, the Department of Education, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Justice, and Treasury, since 2009. Choice Neighborhoods is focused on three core goals:

Housing: Replace distressed public and assisted housing with high-quality mixed-income housing that is well-managed and responsive to the needs of the surrounding neighborhood.

People: Improve outcomes of households living in the target housing related to employment and income, health, and children’s education; and

Neighborhood: Create the conditions necessary for public and private reinvestment in distressed neighborhoods to offer the kinds of amenities and assets, including safety, good schools, and commercial activity, that are important to families' choices about their community.

Through the Choice Neighborhoods planning process local governments, housing authorities, residents, nonprofits, tribal authorities, private developers, school districts, police departments, and other civic organizations create a common vision and develop effective strategies to revitalize their neighborhood. The resulting Transformation Plan lays the foundation for revitalizing the distressed public and/or assisted housing units, transforming the surrounding neighborhood, and promoting opportunities for families. Three of the awardees will receive an additional $950,000 for “action activities.” The Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, the City of Lewiston, and the Philadelphia Housing Authority will use these additional funds to build momentum and attract additional investment. Eligible uses of these funds include recycling vacant property into community gardens, pocket parks, or farmers markets; beautification, place-making and community arts projects; homeowner and business façade improvement programs; neighborhood broadband or wi-fi; fresh food initiatives; and gap financing for economic development projects.

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HUD's mission is to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all.
More information about HUD and its programs is available on the Internet
at www.hud.gov and https://espanol.hud.gov.